From Hereditary to Roma, the 10 best movies of the year

It’s been a weird throwback year at the movies. Leading the box office in the final days of 2018 are Black Panther and Infinity War (latest in the cinematic universe that began in 2008), Incredibles 2 (sequel to a movie from 2004), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (sixth film in the series that started in 1993), Deadpool 2 (first comic-book appearance; 1991) and Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, a remake of the 1966 TV special, based on a 1957 book. Is there nothing new under the sun?

Thankfully, not only were there original stories up on the screen in 2018, but they were some of the best movies of the year. Here are just 10 of them.

First Honourable Mention: First Man

OK, this is number 11 if you’re counting. Damien Chazelle’s look back at the events leading up to the first moon landing sometimes seems to skip from catastrophe to near disaster, with a score to match. But there are moments of sublime beauty, both visual and aural, and Ryan Gosling’s portrayal of the taciturn Neil Armstrong is perfect, as is Claire Foy as his redoubtable wife. Nicely timed, too – the Apollo landing was 50 years ago next summer.

Hereditary

Horror films don’t generally make top-10 lists, but see this one if you dare. Running 127 minutes without an ounce of fat, writer/director Ari Aster’s feature debut is both a dark, character-driven examination of dysfunctional family dynamics, and a terrifying ghost story. Hard to watch, hard to listen to, hard to forget. And for horror fans, not to be missed.

A Private War

Rosamund Pike perfectly embodies American war correspondent Marie Colvin in this gritty biopic expertly adapted from a 2012 Vanity Fair profile. The film captures the job’s strange mix of ego and selflessness, as well as Colvin’s alcoholism, PTSD, dedication and even moments of humour. Colvin also qualifies as one of Time’s Persons of the Year, journalists who risk and sometimes lose their lives to tell the real news.

Eighth Grade

Like a grade-school version of last year’s Oscar nominee Lady Bird, writer/director Bo Burnham presents 13-year-old Kayla (Elsie Fisher) navigating the final week of Grade 8. The shy bundle of angst and anxiety is voted “most quiet” in her class, but listen up; the film has a lot to say.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant make beautiful, melancholy music together in this true tale set during the last bright spark of the analogue age. It’s 1991, and cantankerous author Lee Israel decides to supplement her income by forging letters by dead celebrities. It all goes south, but what a lovely ride from writer Nicole Holofcener and director Marielle Heller.

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch

Alicia Vikander narrates this globe-spanning examination of the ways in which humankind is reshaping the planet. Equal parts stunning and scary, it’s refreshingly non-didactic and also not all doom-and-gloom; open-pit mines and animal extinction alternate with electric-car-battery plants and pollution-cutting rail tunnels.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Does the world really need another Spider-Man movie? When it’s this animated feast for the senses, the answer has to be yes. Shameik Moore voices Miles Morales, who develops superpowers but then learns he’s not the only Spidey, after a spacetime rift sends several more into his universe. Smart, original and beautiful to behold.

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

This is the one you’re least likely to have seen, but seek it out if you can. Indonesian co-writer and director Mouly Surya delivers a sumptuously shot, darkly funny drama that feels like Quentin Tarantino and Nuri Bilge Ceylon had collaborated on a western. Violent, often melancholy, occasionally hilarious and, from a filmmaking perspective, ultimately triumphant.

BlacKkKlansman

Spike Lee’s latest is based on a true story, though you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise. In 1979, a black cop joined the KKK over the phone, enlisting a white officer to play him in meetings. John David Washington and Adam Driver – and by extension, the audience – make sport of the KKK, until Lee reminds us in a powerful coda that racism is no laughing matter.

Burning

Korean master Lee Chang-dong delivers a two-and-a-half-hour mystery-thriller, all slow build and slow burn. A listless delivery boy runs into and then falls for an old schoolmate, but when she gets back from a vacation she’s accompanied by a new guy with a Cheshire Cat smile and a weird hobby: “Sometimes I burn down greenhouses.” Features some lovely detours, all of which eventually connect to the plot.

Roma

Alfonso Cuarón’s personal-yet-universal story is about life, which pretty much describes every movie, though there’s never been a movie like this. Yalitza Aparicio stars as Cleo, maid to an upper-middle-class family in 1970s Mexico. It’s a Netflix film, but deserves to be seen on the big screen for its gorgeous cinematography and overwhelming soundscape.